Air Berlin Urged to Focus on Frankfurt, Link to Oneworld Routes

Aug. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Air Berlin Plc, the German airline
that agreed to join the Oneworld alliance last month, should
refocus its operations on Frankfurt to provide better links with
the flights of its new partners, the airport’s owner said.

Oneworld members including American Airlines, Qantas
Airways Ltd., Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Japan Airlines Corp.
and Chile’s Lan Airlines SA all have services to Frankfurt,
Germany’s main financial center, while offering no direct
flights to Air Berlin’s current base in the German capital.

“There are strong potential benefits from a Oneworld hub
in Frankfurt, not only for the airlines but also for us,”
Fraport AG Chief Financial Officer Matthias Zieschang said today
on a conference call. “They can’t create a hub in Berlin.”

Air Berlin, the first discount airline to join one of the
three main global groupings, welcomes Fraport’s stance after
previously finding it tough to gain access to Frankfurt, the
main hub of Star Alliance member Deutsche Lufthansa AG,
spokesman Hans-Christoph Noack said in an interview. The carrier
has more than 600 weekly flights from Berlin and more than 500
from Dusseldorf, compared with fewer than 150 from Frankfurt.

“There’s no doubt that our membership in Oneworld and the
completion of the fourth runway in Frankfurt next year open new
perspectives,” Noack said by telephone. “And if Fraport offers
the scenario of a Oneworld hub, that’s a positive signal.”

Fraport is spending 4 billion euros ($5.3 billion) on a
third terminal and fourth runway which will increase Frankfurt’s
capacity by 52 percent to 126 takeoffs and landings per hour.

‘Feeder Function’

Air Berlin could build the airport into its main transit
hub, connecting with the incoming and outgoing flights of
Oneworld members, Zieschang said. The carrier, Germany’s second-biggest after Lufthansa, said last month it would seek full
membership of the alliance by early 2012.

“Air Berlin would form a good link to Oneworld by taking
over a feeder function,” the Fraport CEO said.

Air Berlin has been limited in its Frankfurt operations by
the scarcity of slots, Noack said. The company doesn’t plan to
reduce activities in Berlin and aims to benefit from a new
international airport scheduled to open there in 2011, he said.